Self-timed logic bit stream generator with command to run for a number of state transitions

ABSTRACT

A bit stream having non-deterministic entropy is generated by a Self-Timed Logic Entropy Bit Stream Generator (STLEBSG). The STLEBSG includes an incrementer and a linear feedback shift register (LFSR), both implemented in self-timed logic as parts of an asynchronous state machine. In response to a command, the incrementer asynchronously increments a number of times and then stops, where the number of times is determined by command. For each increment of the incrementer, the LFSR undergoes a state transition. As the incrementer increments, the LFSR outputs the bit stream. If the command is a run repeatedly command, then after the incrementer stops the incrementer is reinitialized and then again increments the number of times. This incrementing, stopping, reinitializing, and incrementing process is repeated indefinitely. Another command causes the incrementer to be loaded. Another command causes the LFSR to be loaded.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The described embodiments relate generally to the generation of randomnumbers for use in networking, and more particularly to the generationof random numbers in a network flow processor integrated circuits.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In many networking applications, random numbers are used to encryptinformation before the information is transmitted. New and superior waysof generating suitable random numbers on a network flow processorintegrated circuit are sought.

SUMMARY

A network flow processor integrated circuit includes a transactionalmemory. One operation the transactional memory can perform is thegeneration of a random number. A random number generator within thetransactional memory includes a self-timed logic entropy bit streamgenerator (STLEBSG), an entropy bit stream signal storage ring block, apseudo-random number generator (PRNG), and a set of registers. In oneexample, the parts of the random number generator are configured andinitialized by writing values across a first bus and into the set ofregisters. A resulting random number is generated and this random numberis read out from the random number generator across a second bus. Inanother example, the set of registers is written to and the randomnumber read back across the same bus.

In a first novel aspect, a bit stream is generated using the STLEBSG. Acommand is sent across a bus to the random number generator, where therandom number generator includes the STLEBSG, and where the commandincludes a value. The command may be sent across the bus as one part, oran initial part having an opcode of the command can be sent in one bustransaction and the value can be sent in another bus transaction. In anycase, the command causes the STLEBSG to state transition a number oftimes and then to stop automatically. The number of times is dependentupon the value. In one example, the STLEBSG includes a self-timed logicincrementer (counter), and an associated self-timed logic linearfeedback shift register (LFSR). The self-timed logic incrementer isloaded with an initial count value. The self-timed logic incrementerthen increments until its count rolls over to zero, at which point theincrementing automatically stops. For each increment of the self-timedlogic incrementer, the associated self-timed logic LFSR is made to makeone state transition. As a result of the state transitioning, theself-timed logic LFSR outputs a bit stream. The bit stream is used(either directly or indirectly) by a pseudo-random number generator togenerate a multi-bit random number. Once the random number has beengenerated, it can be read from the random number generator across a bus.

In one example, the random number is read out across the same bus overwhich the command was sent to the random number generator. In anotherexample, the random number is read out across a bus other than the busover which the command was sent to the random number generator. Forexample, the command including the value (the value that determines thenumber of times the incrementer will increment before stopping) may bewritten into the random number generator across a special control bus(CB) at a time when the network flow processor integrated circuit isbeing initialized. Thereafter, during normal operation of the networkflow processor integrated circuit, a processor on the integrated circuitcan act as a bus master and can read a random number (as generated bythe random number generator) from the transactional memory. Thetransactional memory in this read operation acts as the target, and theprocessor acts as the master. The bus is a command/push/pull (CPP) bus.

In some cases, the command is a “run once” command that causes theself-timed logic LFSR to state transition the number of times and thento stop. In other cases, the command is a run repeatedly command thatcauses the self-timed logic LFSR to state transition the number of timesand then stop, but then the self-timed logic incrementer isreinitialized and the self-timed logic LFSR is made to transition thenumber of times again and then to stop once more, and to repeat. Othercommands to the STLEBSG include a command to load a value into in theself-timed logic incrementer, and a command to load a value into theself-timed logic LFSR.

In a second novel aspect, an entropy signal generated by a self-timedlogic circuit is stored in a signal storage ring. A command is receivedonto the random number generator. This command causes the STLEBSG withinthe random number generator to output a bit stream. The bit stream issupplied onto an input of the signal storage ring so that entropy of thebit stream is captured in the signal storage ring. The STLEBSG is thencontrolled to stop outputting the bit stream. The STLEBSG stopstransitioning states, and is disabled, and therefore is made to consumeless power as compared to when it was generating the bit stream. The bitstream as supplied to the signal storage ring stops transitioning.Entropy of the bit stream, however, remains stored in the signal storagering. A signal output by the signal storage ring is then supplied to apseudo-random number generator, thereby generating a random number afterthe STLEBSG has been stopped but while the signal storage ring iscirculating.

In a third novel aspect, a circuit includes a configuration register anda signal storage ring. The signal storage ring includes a signal storagering input node, a signal storage ring output node, and a plurality ofseries-connected stages. Each stage has a corresponding bit in theconfiguration register. The value of the bit determines whether afeedback path of the stage is enabled or is disabled. All of the stagesof the ring can be identical, or some of the stages can differ fromothers of the stages. In one example, all the stages are identical, andeach stage includes an exclusive OR circuit, a delay element that has aninput coupled to an output of the exclusive OR circuit, and acombinatorial logic circuit whose output is coupled to a second input ofthe exclusive OR circuit. A first input of the exclusive OR circuit is adata input of the stage. An output of the delay element is a data outputof the stage. The first input of the combinatorial logic circuit iscoupled to a corresponding element bit for the stage (the enable bit isa part of the configuration register). The second input of thecombinatorial logic circuit is the feedback input of the stage. Thefeedback input of all the stages of the ring are typically connected tothe signal storage ring output node of the ring. In some examples, theexclusive OR circuit is replaced with an exclusive NOR circuit. In someexamples the delay element is non-inverting, and in other examples thedelay element is inverting. In some examples the combinatorial logiccircuit is a NAND gate, whereas in other examples it is a NOR gate, anOR gate, or an AND gate.

Due to the feedback of the ring output signal back onto the feedbackinputs of the stages, the bit stream is permuted in complex ways as thebit stream circulates around and around in the ring. Despite thiscomplex permutation, original non-deterministic entropy in the originalbit stream as received onto the signal storage ring input node ismaintained in the ring. The original bit stream may stop transitioning,and the circuit that generated it may be powered down, and yet theentropy from the bit stream as previously captured in the ring remainsstored in the ring.

Further details and embodiments and techniques are described in thedetailed description below. This summary does not purport to define theinvention. The invention is defined by the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, where like numerals indicate like components,illustrate embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a top-down diagram of an Island-Based Network Flow Processor(IB-NFP) integrated circuit.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a microengine island (ME island) ofthe IB-NFP integrated circuit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of the Cluster Local Scratch (CLS) withinthe ME island of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the SSB peripheral block in the CLS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the random number generator in the SSBperipherals block of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a state diagram that illustrates how only one bit of thestate-holding sequential logic elements is changed at a time in aself-timed logic state machine.

FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram that illustrates two wire logic.

FIG. 8 is a diagram that shows how slave latches and master latches canbe controlled to implement a self-timed logic state machine.

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram that illustrates how slave latches andmaster latches can be controlled to implement a self-timed logic statemachine.

FIG. 10 is a high-level block diagram that illustrates how a circuitthat can control the slave latches and master latches of a self-timedlogic state machine.

FIG. 11A is a circuit diagram of the self-timed logic data registercontroller of the STLEBSG. FIG. 11A is a part of a larger FIG. 11 of theSTLEBSG.

FIG. 11B is a circuit diagram of the self-timed logic run to completioncontroller of the STLEBSG. FIG. 11B is a part of a larger FIG. 11 of theSTLEBSG.

FIG. 11C is a circuit diagram of the self-timed logic LFSR of theSTLEBSG. FIG. 11C is a part of a larger FIG. 11 of the STLEBSG.

FIG. 11D is a circuit diagram of the self-timed logic incrementer of theSTLEBSG. FIG. 11D is a part of a larger FIG. 11 of the STLEBSG.

FIG. 11E is a circuit diagram of the synchronous controller of theSTLEBSG. FIG. 11E is a part of a larger FIG. 11 of the STLEBSG.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of the logic block of FIG. 11A.

FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram of a two-input XOR gate (two wire logic)present in the STLEBSG of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram of a three-to-one multiplexer (two wirelogic) present in the STLEBSG of FIG. 11.

FIG. 15 is a circuit diagram of a synchronous LFSR.

FIG. 16 is a circuit diagram that shows the synchronous LFSR of FIG. 15in a different orientation.

FIG. 17 is a circuit diagram of a synchronous counter.

FIG. 18 is a circuit diagram that shows the synchronous counter of FIG.17 in a different orientation.

FIG. 19 is a circuit diagram of a half-adder (two wire logic) present inthe STLEBSG of FIG. 11.

FIG. 20 is a circuit diagram of a self-timed logic data latch (slave ormaster) present in the STLEBSG of FIG. 11.

FIG. 21 is a circuit diagram of one of the SR latches present in theself-timed logic data latch of FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 is a state diagram that illustrates operation of the synchronouscontroller of the STLEBSG of FIG. 11.

FIG. 23 is a diagram of the configuration register 113 of the randomnumber generator of FIG. 5.

FIG. 24 is a diagram of the command register 114 of the random numbergenerator of FIG. 5.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of the data register 115 of the random numbergenerator of FIG. 5.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart of a method 300 in accordance with one novelaspect.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart of a method 400 in accordance with another novelaspect.

FIG. 28 is a more detailed diagram of the signal storage ring block ofFIG. 5.

FIG. 29 is a circuit diagram of a first possible way the XOR symbol ofFIG. 28 may be implemented.

FIG. 30 is a circuit diagram of a second possible way the XOR symbol ofFIG. 28 may be implemented.

FIG. 31 is a circuit diagram of a first alternative implementation of astage of the ring of FIG. 28.

FIG. 32 is a circuit diagram of a second alternative implementation of astage of the ring of FIG. 28.

FIG. 33 is a circuit diagram of a third alternative implementation of astage of the ring of FIG. 28.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to background examples and someembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top-down diagram of an Island-Based Network Flow Processor(IB-NFP) integrated circuit 1 and associated memory circuits 2-7. TheIB-NFP integrated circuit sees use in network appliances such as, forexample, an MPLS router. IB-NFP integrated circuit 1 includes many I/O(input/output) terminals (not shown). Each of these terminals couples toan associated terminal of the integrated circuit package (not shown)that houses the IB-NFP integrated circuit. The integrated circuitterminals may be flip-chip microbumps and are not illustrated.Alternatively, the integrated circuit terminals may be wire bond pads.The IB-NFP integrated circuit 1 is typically disposed on a line cardalong with optics transceiver circuitry, PHY circuitry and externalmemories.

SerDes circuits 9-12 are the first set of four SerDes circuits that areused to communicate with external networks via the PHY circuitry, theoptics transceivers, and optical cables. SerDes circuits 13-16 are thesecond set of four SerDes circuits that are used to communicate with aswitch fabric (not shown) of the MPLS router. Each of these SerDescircuits 13-16 is duplex in that it has a SerDes connection forreceiving information and it also has a SerDes connection fortransmitting information. Each of these SerDes circuits can communicatepacket data in both directions simultaneously at a sustained rate of 25Gbps. IB-NFP integrated circuit 1 accesses external memory integratedcircuits 2-7 via corresponding 32-bit DDR physical interfaces 17-22,respectively. IB-NFP integrated circuit 1 also has several generalpurpose input/output (GPIO) interfaces. One of these GPIO interfaces 23is used to access external PROM 8.

In addition to the area of the input/output circuits outlined above, theIB-NFP integrated circuit 1 also includes two additional areas. Thefirst additional area is a tiling area of islands 24-48. Each of theislands is either of a full rectangular shape, or is half the size ofthe full rectangular shape. For example, the island 29 labeled “PCIE(1)” is a full island. The island 34 below it labeled “ME CLUSTER (5)”is a half island. The functional circuits in the various islands of thetiling area are interconnected by: 1) a configurable meshCommand/Push/Pull (CPP) data bus, 2) a configurable mesh control bus(CB), and 3) a configurable mesh event bus 9EB). Each such mesh busextends over the two-dimensional space of islands with a regular grid or“mesh” pattern.

In addition to this tiling area of islands 24-48, there is a secondadditional area of larger sized blocks 49-53. The functional circuitryof each of these blocks is not laid out to consist of islands andhalf-islands in the way that the circuitry of islands 24-48 is laid out.The mesh bus structures do not extend into or over any of these largerblocks. The mesh bus structures do not extend outside of island 24-48.The functional circuitry of a larger sized block may connect by directdedicated connections to an interface island and through the interfaceisland achieve connectivity to the mesh buses and other islands.

The arrows in FIG. 1 illustrate an operational example of IB-NFPintegrated circuit 1 within the MPLS router. 100 Gbps packet traffic isreceived onto the router via an optical cable (not shown), flows ontothe line card and through an optics transceiver (not shown), flowsthrough a PHY integrated circuit (not shown), and is received ontoIB-NFP integrated circuit 1, is spread across the four SerDes I/O blocks9-12. Twelve virtual input ports are provided at this interface. Thesymbols pass through direct dedicated conductors from the SerDes blocks9-12 to ingress MAC island 45. Ingress MAC island 45 converts successivesymbols delivered by the physical coding layer into packets by mappingsymbols to octets, by performing packet framing, and then by bufferingthe resulting packets for subsequent communication to other processingcircuitry. The packets are communicated from MAC island 45 across aprivate inter-island bus to first NBI (Network Bus Interface) island 46.In addition to the optical cable that supplies packet traffic into theline card, there is another optical cable that communicates packettraffic in the other direction out of the line card.

For each packet received onto the IB-BPF in the example of FIG. 1, thefunctional circuitry of first NBI island 46 (also called the ingress NBIisland) examines fields in the header portion of the packet to determinewhat storage strategy to use to place the packet into memory. In oneexample, first NBI island 46 examines the header portion and from thatdetermines whether the packet is an exception packet or whether thepacket is a fast-path packet. If the packet is an exception packet thenthe first NBI island 46 determines a first storage strategy to be usedto store the packet so that relatively involved exception processing canbe performed efficiently, whereas if the packet is a fast-path packetthen the NBI island 46 determines a second storage strategy to be usedto store the packet for more efficient transmission of the packet fromthe IB-NFP. First NBI island 46 examines a packet header, performspacket preclassification, determines that the packet is a fast-pathpacket, and determines that the header portion of the packet should beplaced into a CTM (Cluster Target Memory) in ME (Microengine) island 40.The header portion of the packet is therefore communicated across theconfigurable mesh data bus from NBI island 46 to ME island 40. The CTMis a transactional memory that is tightly coupled to microengines in theME island 40. The ME island 40 determines header modification andqueuing strategy for the packet based on the packet flow (derived frompacket header and contents) and the ME island 40 informs a second NBIisland 37 (also called the egress NBI island) of these. The payloadportions of fast-path packets are placed into internal SRAM (StaticRandom Access Memory) MU block 52 and the payload portions of exceptionpackets are placed into external DRAM 6 and 7.

Half island 42 is an interface island through which all informationpassing into, and out of, SRAM MU block 52 passes. The functionalcircuitry within half island 42 serves as the interface and controlcircuitry for the SRAM within block 52. For simplicity purposes in thediscussion below, both half island 42 and MU block 52 may be referred totogether as the MU island, although it is to be understood that MU block52 is actually not an island as the term is used here but rather is ablock. The payload portion of the incoming fast-path packet iscommunicated from NBI island 46, across the configurable mesh data busto SRAM control island 42, and from control island 42, to the interfacecircuitry in block 52, and to the internal SRAM circuitry of block 52.The internal SRAM of block 52 stores the payloads so that they can beaccessed for flow determination by the ME island.

In addition, a preclassifier in the first NBI island 46 determines thatthe payload portions for others of the packets should be stored inexternal DRAM 6 and 7. For example, the payload portions for exceptionpackets are stored in external DRAM 6 and 7. Interface island 44,external MU SRAM block 53, and DDR PHY I/O blocks 21 and 22 serve as theinterface and control for external DRAM integrated circuits 6 and 7. Thepayload portions of the exception packets are therefore communicatedacross the configurable mesh data bus from first NBI island 46, tointerface and control island 44, to external MU SRAM block 53, to 32-bitDDR PHY I/O blocks 21 and 22, and to external DRAM integrated circuits 6and 7. At this point in the operational example, the packet headerportions and their associated payload portions are stored in differentplaces. The header portions of both fast-path and exception packets arestored in the CTM (Cluster Target Memory) in ME island 40. The payloadportions of fast-path packets are stored in internal SRAM in MU block52, whereas the payload portions of exception packets are stored inexternal SRAM in external DRAMs 6 and 7.

ME island 40 informs second NBI island 37 (the egress NBI island) wherethe packet headers and the packet payloads can be found and provides thesecond NBI island 37 with an egress packet descriptor for each packet.The egress packet descriptor indicates a queuing strategy to be used forthe associated packet. Second NBI island 37 uses the egress packetdescriptors to read the packet headers and any header modification fromME island 40 and to read the packet payloads from either internal SRAM52 or external DRAMs 6 and 7. Second NBI island 37 places packetdescriptors for packets to be output into the correct order. For eachpacket that is then scheduled to be transmitted, the second NBI island37 uses the packet descriptor to read the header portion and any headermodification and the payload portion and to assemble the packet to betransmitted. The header modification is not actually part of the egresspacket descriptor, but rather it is stored with the packet header by theME when the packet is presented to the NBI. The second NBI island 37then performs any indicated packet modification on the packet. Theresulting modified packet then passes from second NBI island 37 and toegress MAC island 38.

Egress MAC island 38 buffers the packets, and converts them intosymbols. The symbols are then delivered by conductors from the MACisland 38 to the four SerDes I/O blocks 13-16. From SerDes I/O blocks13-16, the 100 Gbps outgoing packet flow passes out of the IB-NFPintegrated circuit 1 and to the switch fabric (not shown) of the router.Twelve virtual output ports are provided in the example of FIG. 1.

General Description of the CPP Data Bus: A Command-Push-Pull (CPP) databus structure interconnects functional circuitry in the islands of theIB-NFP integrated circuit 1. Within each full island, the CPP data busactually includes four mesh bus structures, each of which includes acrossbar switch that is disposed in the center of the island, and eachof which includes six half links that extend to port locations at theedges of the island, and each of which also includes two links thatextend between the crossbar switch and the functional circuitry of theisland. These four mesh bus structures are referred to as the commandmesh bus, the pull-id mesh bus, and data0 mesh bus, and the data1 meshbus. The mesh buses terminate at the edges of the full island such thatif another identical full island were laid out to be adjacent, then thehalf links of the corresponding mesh buses of the two islands wouldalign and couple to one another in an end-to-end collinear fashion. Foradditional information on the IB-NFP integrated circuit, the IB-NFP'sislands, the CPP data bus, the CPP meshes, operation of the CPP databus, and the different types of bus transactions that occur over the CPPdata bus, see: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/399,433 entitled“Staggered Island Structure in an Island-Based Network Flow Processor”filed on Feb. 17, 2012 (the entire subject matter of which isincorporated herein by reference).

General Description of a Write That Results in a Pull: In one example ofa CPP bus transaction, a master on one island can use a data businterface (on the master's island) to perform a write operation over theCPP bus to a target on another island, where the target is made torespond by performing a pull operation. First, the master uses its databus interface to output a bus transaction value onto the command mesh ofthe CPP data bus. The bus transaction value includes a metadata portionand a payload portion. The metadata portion includes a final destinationvalue. The bus transaction value is a write command and is said to be“posted” by the master onto the command mesh. The metadata portionincludes the 6-bit final destination value. This final destination valueidentifies an island by number, where the island identified is the finaldestination of the bus transaction value. The final destination value isused by the various crossbar switches of the command mesh structure toroute the bus transaction value (i.e., the command) from the master tothe appropriate target. A final destination island may include more thanone potential target. A 4-bit target field of the payload portionindicates which one of these targets in the destination island it isthat is the target of the command. A 5-bit action field indicates thatthe command is a write. A 14-bit data reference field is a referenceusable by the master to determine where in the master the data is to befound. An address field indicates an address in the target where thedata is to be written. The target receives the write command from thecommand mesh and examines the payload portion of the write command. Fromthe action field, the target determines that it is to perform a writeaction. To carry out this write action, the target posts a bustransaction value called a “pull-id” onto the pull-id mesh. The finaldestination field of the metadata portion of the pull-id bus transactionindicates the island where the master is located. The target port fieldidentifies which sub-circuit target it is within the target's islandthat is the target of the command. The pull-id is communicated throughthe pull-id mesh from the target back to the master. The master receivesthe pull-id from the pull-id mesh and uses the content of the datareference field of the pull-id to find the data. In the overall writeoperation, the master knows the data it is trying to write into thetarget. The data reference value that is returned with the pull-id isused by the master as a flag to match the returning pull-id with theoriginal write operation that the target had previously initiated. Themaster responds by sending the identified data to the target across oneof the data meshes data0 or data1 as a “pull” data bus transactionvalue. The term “pull” means that the data of the operation passes fromthe master to the target. The term “push” means that the data of theoperation passes from the target to the master. The target receives thedata pull bus transaction value across the data1 or data0 mesh. The datareceived by the target as the data for the write is the content of thedata field of the pull data payload portion. The target then writes thereceived data into memory, thereby completing the write operation.

General Description of a Read That Results in a Push: A master can alsouse the data bus interface (on the master's island) to perform a readoperation over the CPP bus from a target on another island, where thetarget is made to respond by performing a push operation. First, themaster uses the data bus interface to “post” a bus transaction valueonto the command mesh bus of the configurable mesh CPP data bus. The bustransaction value is a read command to read data from the target. Theread command includes a metadata portion and a payload portion. Themetadata portion includes the G-bit final destination value thatindicates the island where the target is located. The action field ofthe payload portion of the read command indicates that the command is aread. The 14-bit data reference field is usable by the master as a flagto associate returned data with the original read operation the masterpreviously initiated. The address field in the payload portion indicatesan address in the target where the data is to be obtained. The lengthfield indicates the amount of data. The target receives the read commandand examines the payload portion of the command. From the action fieldof the command payload portion the target determines that it is toperform a read action. To carry out this read action, the target usesthe address field and the length field to obtain the data requested. Thetarget then “pushes” the obtained data back to the master across datamesh data1 or data0. To push the data, the target outputs a push bustransaction value onto the data1 or data0 mesh. The first bit of thepayload portion indicates that the bus transaction value is for a datapush, as opposed to a data pull. The master receives the bus transactionvalue of the data push from the data mesh bus. The master then uses thedata reference field of the push bus transaction value to associate theincoming data with the original read command, and from the original readcommand determines where the incoming pushed data (data in the datafield of the push bus transaction value) should be written into themaster. The master then writes the content of the data field into themaster's memory at the appropriate location, thereby completing the readoperation.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed diagram of ME island 40. In addition to otherparts, the ME island 40 includes six pairs of microengines 54-65, a databus island bridge 66, the Cluster Local Scratch (CLS) 67, a data businterface 68 for the CLS, the Cluster Target Memory (CTM) 69, and a databus interface 70 for the CTM. Each pair of microengines shares a memorycontaining program code for the microengines. For example, memory 71 isshared between MEs 54 and 55. MEs can access the CLS via the DB islandbridge 66. Reference numeral 72 identifies the CPP data bus. Referencenumeral 73 identifies the control bus CB. Reference numeral 74identifies the event bus EB.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that shows CLS 67 in further detail. CLS 67 includesa memory unit 75, a control pipeline circuit 76, a SSB peripherals block77, and FIFOs 78-81. SSB peripherals block 77 includes an event manager82, a random number generator 83, and a Non-deterministic Finite stateAutomaton (NFA) engine 84. Control pipeline circuit 76 includes a ringoperation stage 85, a read stage 86, a wait stage 87, a pull stage 88,an execute stage 89, a write stage 90, a decoder 91, an operation FIFO92, and a translator 93.

General operation of the CLS 136 involves a flow of commands that aresent by one or more masters to the CLS as a target via the DB islandbridge 66 and the data bus interface 68. For example, a master ME in thesame ME island can supply a command 94 to the local CLS as a targetusing the same CPP data bus commands and operations as described abovejust as if the CLS were outside the island in another island, exceptthat bus transaction values do not have a final destination value. Thebus transaction values do not leave the island and therefore do not needthat final destination information. The data bus interface 68 is thetarget of the bus transaction. The command 94 is pushed into FIFO 78.The command 94 passes through FIFO 78 and is presented to the pipeline76 via conductors 95. The decoder 91 determines if the operationspecified by the command will require data to be obtained (i.e., pulled)in order for the operation to be carried out. If the result of thedecoding indicates that data should be pulled, then information togenerate a pull-id bus transaction value is generated by the decoder andis sent across conductors 96 and into FIFO 79. The data bus interface 68uses this information from FIFO 79 to generate an appropriate pull-idtransaction value. The pull-id transaction value is communicated via DBisland bridge 66 to the master ME. The master ME in turn returns thepull data 98 via DB island bridge 66 and the data bus interface 68target. The pull data pass through pull FIFO 80 and conductors 97 backto the pipeline. It generally takes multiple clock cycles for the pulldata to be returned. Meanwhile, after decoding by decoder 91, thecommand 94 passes through operation FIFO 92 and is translated into a setof opcodes 99 by translator 93. There is one opcode for each stage ofthe pipeline. Each opcode determines what a corresponding pipeline stagewill do during the clock cycle when the command is being processed bythat stage. If the command requires a value to be read from theperipherals block 77 or from memory unit 75, then the read stage 86outputs a read request via conductors 100. Any data that is returned asa result of a read request on conductors 100 is received via conductors101 on the input of the execute stage 89. The execute stage 89 thengenerates an output value as a function of information from the priorstages, pull data and/or data read from the peripherals or the memoryunit. If the command requires an output value to be written to thememory unit, then the write stage 90 causes an appropriate write tooccur across conductors 102. Likewise, if the command requires an outputvalue to be returned to the command master across the DB island bridge,then the write stage 90 supplies data 103 across conductors 104 to FIFO81 so that an appropriate bus transaction value is output from DB islandbridge 66 back to the master. In one example, an ME can perform a readof a random number from the random number generator 83 of the SSBperipherals block 77. To do this, the ME posts a read bus transactionvia the DB island bridge 66 and data bus interface 68 to the CLS 67. Theresulting command passing into the pipeline 76 is a read command. Theread stage supplies the address to be read to the random numbergenerator 83 via conductors 100. In response, the random numbergenerator 83 outputs the random number, which is receives by the executestage of the pipeline via conductors 101, and is returned via FIFO 81,data bus interface 68 and the DB island bridge 66 to the ME. The heavyarrow 105 in FIG. 3 illustrates the path of the random number as itpasses from the random number generator 83 back to the ME.

In addition, there are registers within the random number generator 83that can be written to in order to configure and control the randomnumber generator 83. A processor on the ARM processor island 25 performswrites across the control bus (CB) to load configuration and controlinformation into these registers. Each of these registers has anidentifying address on the CB bus. The heavy arrow 106 in FIG. 3illustrates the path of information across the CB bus that loads theseregisters.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed diagram of the SSB peripherals block 77 of theCLS 67 of FIG. 3. SSB peripherals block 77 includes the event manager82, the random number generator 83, the NFA engine 84, a decoder 107,and an output gate structure 108. A read request 109 is received fromthe pipeline 76. Two of the bits of the read request are supplied to thedecoder 107 and determine which one of three select signals SEL_1, SEL_2and SEL_3 will be asserted. Only one can be asserted at a time. If oneof the blocks 82, 83 and 84 does not receive an asserted select signal,then that block will output all zeros on its 64-bit bus back to theoutput gate structure. Only the selected block will output a 64-bitvalue on its 64-bit bus back the output gate structure. Due to the ORlogic of the output gate structure 108, the 64-bit value output by theselected block will pass through the output gate structure 108 and backto the pipeline. In this way, an ME acting as a master can cause thepipeline of the CLS to perform a read of a desired one of the blocks,and to return the read data back to the ME via the execute stage of thepipeline, FIFO 81, data bus interface 68, and DB island bridge 66. Inone specific case, the data read is a random number that is output bythe random number generator 83.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed diagram of the random number generator 83 ofFIG. 4. Random number generator 83 includes a Self-Timed Logic EntropyBit Stream Generator (STLEBSG) 109, a signal storage ring block 110, aPseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) 111 realized from synchronouslogic, and a set 112 of registers. The set 112 of registers storesconfiguration information for the other blocks, and includes (amongother registers not shown) a first configuration register 113, a commandregister 114, and a data register 115. Each register of the set can bewritten individually across the CB bus 73 as described above. Thecontents of the registers are supplied across conductors 120 to supplyconfiguration and control information to STLEBSG 109, across conductors121 to supply configuration information to the signal storage ring block110, and across conductors 122 to supply configuration information tothe pseudo-random number generator 111. The output of the random numbergenerator is a 64-bit random number 123 that is output via conductors124 through the output OR gate structure 108 (see FIG. 4) back to theexecute stage of the pipeline.

STLEBSG 109 supplies a bit stream 125 to the signal storage ring block110, where the bit stream 125 is said to contain nondeterministic“entropy”. The time when an edge of the bit stream transitions is afunction of propagation delays through the self-timed logic due to theasynchronous nature of the operation of the STLEBSG 109. The propagationdelays vary depending on various factors including the temperature ofthe various parts of the STLEBSG circuitry, and including supplyvoltages supplied to various parts of the STLEBSG circuitry, and othercomplex factors.

STLEBSG 109 includes a synchronous controller 126, a self-timed logicrun-to-completion controller 127, a self-timed logic data registercontroller 128, a self-timed logic incrementer 129, and a self-timedlogic linear feedback shift register (LFSR) 130. Synchronous controller126 includes a synchronous state machine that is clocked by a signalCLK. Synchronous controller 126 provides an interface to the self-timedlogic portion of STLEBSG for signals output by the set 112 of registers.The other portions 127-130 of the STLEBSG are not clocked by the signalCLK and include no synchronous logic, but rather are an asynchronouslogic circuit. The terms “asynchronous logic” and “self-timed logic” areused interchangeably here.

In a high-level explanation of the operation of STLEBSG, the incrementer129 can be set up via the set 112 of registers to undergo apredetermined number of state transitions and then to stop. In theexample of FIG. 5, the incrementer stops when its count rolls over to bea zero value. To cause the incrementer 129 to undergo a predeterminednumber of state transitions before stopping, the incrementer ispreloaded with a count value. When the incrementer then starts counting,it will roll over in a few or larger number of state transitionsdepending on whether the initialized value is larger or smaller. Foreach such state transition of the incrementer 129, the self-timed logicLFSR 130 also performs a corresponding state transition. The initialvalue in the self-timed logic LFSR 130 is also initialized to a desiredvalue. The arrow 131 labeled PRELOAD BITS in FIG. 5 identifies theinitialization information that initializes the incrementer 129 and theself-timed logic LFSR 130. Once set up, the self-timed logic is startedto run. This starting of the self-timed logic is carried out by writinganother value into a particular one of the set 112 of registers. Inresponse, the incrementer 129 starts incrementing and the self-timedlogic LFSR starts changing state. When the incrementer stopstransitioning states due to how it was set up, then the self-timed logicLFSR 130 also stops. Depending on how the STLEBSG was set up, theincrementer may then be automatically reinitiated with start values, andmay then be automatically started to transition states once more. If theSTLEBSG is set up a different way, then once the incrementer rolls overand stops the incrementer and self-timed logic LFSR remain stopped. Therun-to-completion controller 127 and the data register controller 128together provide the appropriate control signals to the master and slavesequential logic elements of the incrementer and the self-timed logicLFSR.

Signal storage ring block 110 includes a signal storage ring 132 and atwo-to-one multiplexer 133. The signal storage ring 132 includes aplurality of configurable stages, where each of the stages is configuredby a respective one of a plurality of configuration stage enable bitsoutput from the configuration register 113 in the set 112 of registers.Due to the configuration bits in configuration register 113, the signalstorage ring 132 can be configured in various different ways. In oneway, the entropy bit stream 125 passes into the signal storage ringblock 110 via input node 136, and passes through the series-connectedstages of the ring, and is therefore captured in the ring. The capturedsignal then starts circulating back from the output node 134 of thestorage ring back to a feedback input of the first stage of the ring.Depending on how the various stages of the ring are configured as thebit stream loops back, the bit stream is permuted in complex ways as itcirculates around and around in the ring, but the originalnondeterministic entropy in the original bit stream 125 as received fromSTLBSG 109 is maintained. Another configuration bit is supplied to theselect input of multiplexer 133. In one configuration, the bit stream125 is supplied via the multiplexer 133 onto the output node 135 of thesignal storage ring block 110, thereby effectively bypassing the signalsstorage ring 132. In another configuration, a bit stream signal from theoutput node 134 of the ring is supplied via the multiplexer 133 onto theoutput node 135 of the block. The resulting output signal 137 issupplied to the pseudo-random bit stream generator 111.

Pseudo-random number generator 111 includes a synchronizer 138, a shiftregister 139, a 41-bit linear feedback shift register (LFSR) 140, a53-bit LFSR 141, a 47-bit LFSR 142, a 63-bit LFSR 143, a whitener 144,an output shift register 145, and an output FIFO 146. The output signal137 from the signal storage ring block 110 is synchronized to the signalCLK by passing it through the synchronizer 138. The resultingsynchronized entropy signal is shifted into, and is captured in, shiftregister 139. Each of the four LFSRs can be individually configured viathe CB bus: 1) to seed the bottom 32 bits of the LFSR to the 32-bitvalue output by the shift register 139, 2) to XOR the bottom 32 bits ofthe LFSR to the 32-bit value output by the shift register 139, or 3) notto use the 32-bit value output by the shift register 139 to reseed anybits of the LFSR. Each cycle of the signal CLK, a bit is output fromeach of the LFSRs. Four bits are therefore supplied to whitener 144 at atime. The whitener 144 is configurable as a lookup table to map a set ofincoming four bits to a data output value D and an enable bit E in aselectable one of various different ways. In one way, if all the fourbits from the LFSRs are “1” then the whitener 144 outputs a digital “1”as the data value D to shift register 145 and also asserts the enablesignal E. Because the shift register 145 is enabled by the enable signalE, the shift register shifts in the “1” value on the next rising edge ofCLK. If all the four bits from the LFSRs are “0”, then the whitener 144outputs a digital “0” as the data value D to shift register 145 and alsoasserts the enable signal E. Because the shift register 145 is enabledby the enable signal E, the shift register shifts in the “0” value onthe next rising edge of CLK. If, however, the four bits received fromthe LFSRs 140-143 are not either all “1” or all “0”, then the whitener144 does not assert the enable signal E and consequently no value isshifted into the shift register 145. The 64 bits in shift register 145are supplied in parallel form to output FIFO 146. These 64 bits are the64-bit random number 123 that is output from the random number generator83. The FIFO 146 is loaded whenever the shift register has 64 valid databits so that each 64-bit random number value in FIFO 146 represents adifferent 64-bit section of the bit stream output from whitener 144.When the FIFO is loaded the shift register is set to zero valid bits.Since the whitener has the enable signal E it can take 64 or more cyclesfor the shift register to 64 valid data bits. After a 64-bit value isread from FIFO, the value is automatically cleared from the FIFO so thatthe same value cannot be read twice. The operation described above isbut one configuration of the pseudo-random number generator 111. TheLFSRs 140-143 and the whitener 144 can be initialized and configured indifferent ways by writing appropriate configuration information acrossthe CB bus into other configuration registers of the set 112 ofregisters.

Operation of the self-timed logic entropy bit stream generator (STLEBSG)109 is explained below in connection with FIGS. 6-22. STLEGBSG 109involves a self-timed logic state machine. In the design of such aself-timed logic state machine, the current state of the state machineis stored in latches. As illustrated in FIG. 6, only one bit stored inthe state-holding latches is allowed to change at a time. The statetransitions in the example of FIG. 6 are“000”→“001”→“011”→“010”→“110”→“100”.

FIG. 7 illustrates two-wire logic signaling that is employed in theself-timed logic state machine. Rather than communicating a digital “0”value or a digital “1” value using a single signal as is common inordinary digital electronics, in two-wire logic two signals are used. Ifthe signal D_L is high, then a digital “0” is being communicated. If thesignal D_H is high, then a digital “1” is being communicated. If neitherD_L nor D_H is high, then no data value is being communicated. Theabsence of a data value is referred to as “not valid”. The circuitryoutputting the signals is designed so that both signals D_L and D_H arenever high at the same time. It is considered an illegal condition forboth signals of the two-wire logic signals to be high at the same time.Whenever the data value being communicated changes from either a “0” toa “1” or from a “1” to a “0”, there must be an intervening time when“not valid” is communicated.

A stored data state can be realized by a set of slave latches and masterlatches that store the state of the state machine, and an amount of nextstate logic. In the case of a self-timed logic state machine, data isnot clocked into the slave on one edge of a clock and is then clockedfrom the slave and into the master on the opposite edge of the clock.Rather, there is no clock in a self-timed logic state machine. In aself-timed logic state machine, the slave is controlled to be “cleared”(so that the slave stores no valid data). Only when this is done is theslave then enabled. The enabling allows the slave to latch data. Onlywhen the slave latch is confirmed to be storing valid data is the mastercontrolled to be “cleared”. When the master is confirmed to be cleared(storing no valid data), then the master is enabled to latch data fromthe slave. Each slave and master pair of the state machine is clearedand enabled in this chained fashion.

FIG. 8 is a diagram that illustrates how multiple slave latch/masterlatch pairs are controlled to operate. The slave latch/master latchpairs are used to store data state in the state machine. In a firststate (150), all the slave latches are controlled to be “cleared”.“Cleared” means that the slave latches are controlled so that theyoutput “not valid”. “Cleared” does not mean that the latches are made tostore “0” values.

Once the slaves are confirmed to be cleared, then the state machine ismade to force a TICK_ACK signal low (151). Thereafter the state machineis not to transition state again on its own, but rather is to wait forthe incoming TICK signal to go high. The TICK signal is supplied to thestate machine to prompt the state machine to transition states, and toprevent the state machine from transitioning states until certain eventshave occurred. As explained in further detail below, and externalcircuit controls the self-timed state machine by supplying it with aTICK high signal and then waiting for the self-timed logic to transitionstates such that the state machine then outputs a TICK_ACK high signaland stops. Likewise, the external circuit controls the self-timed statemachine by supplying it with a TICK low signal and then waiting for theself-timed logic to transition states such that the state machine thenoutputs a TICK_ACK low signal and stops.

The external circuit then asserts the signal TICK high (152). Theself-timed state machine responds by enabling all slave latches toreceive data. When all the slave latches are confirmed to have storedvalid data (153), then a state transition occurs. All master latches arethen controlled to clear themselves (154). When all master latches areconfirmed not to store valid data (to be “cleared”), then the statemachine asserts the TICK_ACK signal high (155), stops, and then waitsfor TICK to go low. After an amount of time, the external signal assertsTICK low (156) to start the state machine transitioning again. Theself-timed state machine then causes all masters to be enabled (157) sothe master latches can be made to receive data. When all the masterlatches are confirmed to be storing valid data, then a state transitionoccurs, and all slave latches are again controlled to clear themselves(150). The slave latches and the master latches are made to be cleared,and then to latch valid data, back and forth in this way. The rate atwhich the state transitioning occurs is throttled by the TICK signalthat is supplied to the self-timed logic circuit. A self-timed logicstate machine can be made of such slave and master latches by providingnext state determining logic that determines the next data value latchedinto the latches as a function of the current state and input signals.

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram that illustrates how signal TICK is used tothrottle a self-timed logic state machine involving slave latches andmaster latches. The state transitions are the same as in FIG. 6 and are:000→001→011→010→011→100→000. Initially the state is “001”. The signalALL_SLAVES_CLEARED is received from the latches. This signal indicatesthat all the slave latches have been cleared, i.e. none of the slavelatches contains valid data. State machine operation is suspended inthis condition until the TICK signal is made to go high by an externalcircuit. The signal TICK going high causes the state to transition to“011” and causes a SLAVE_ENABLE signal to be sent to the slave latches.In response to the SLAVE_ENABLE signal being asserted, the slaves areenabled to latch data. Accordingly, after some time all the slavelatches have latched data. The signal ALL_SLAVE_VALID then goes highindicating that each of the slave latches has been confirmed to storevalid data. In response, the state transitions to “010” and theSLAVE_ENABLE signal is deasserted low, and the signal MASTER_CLEAR isasserted high. With a clear control signal being supplied to the masterlatches, all the master latches come to be cleared (so that none of themaster latches stores valid data). When all the master latches areconfirmed to be cleared, the ALL_MASTERS_CLEARED signal is assertedhigh. This causes the state to transition to “110” and causesMASTER_CLEAR control signal to go low. At this time all master latchesare cleared. State does not transition until TICK is asserted low by theexternal circuit. At some time later, TICK is asserted low. This causesstate to transition to “100” and causes MASTER_ENABLE to be assertedhigh. Due to MASTER_ENABLE being asserted high, the master latchesproceed to latch data. When all the master latches are confirmed to bestoring valid data, then the signal ALL_MASTERS_VALID is goes high.ALL_MASTERS_VALID going high causes state to transition to back to the“000” and causes MASTER_ENALBE to go low. The slave latches and themaster latches are controlled in this way with the slave latches beingcleared, then being made to latch data, then with the master latchesbeing cleared, then with the master latches being made to latch data,and so forth. The four signals 158 of the waveform diagram of FIG. 9 arecontrol signals supplied to the latches. The four signals 159 of thewaveform diagram of FIG. 9 are detection signals that indicateconditions of the slave latches and master latches. For example, a slavelatch outputs a two-wire logic value on its Q_H and Q_L latch outputleads. If the latch is in a cleared condition, then both the Q_H signaland the Q_L signal will be low. Accordingly, a two-input NOR gatecoupled to receive the Q_H and Q_L signals from the latch will output adigital high signal only if both Q_H and Q_L are low. The NOR gatetherefore detects the condition of the latch being in a cleared state.If each of the latches has such a two-input NOR gate detecting whetherit is cleared, then the logical AND of all the NOR gate output signalswill indicate whether all the latches are cleared. In this way, a signalsuch as the ALL_SLAVES_CLEARED is generated from the latch outputsignals. It is also noted that the two-level latch state machine itself(which controls the Q_L and Q_H latches) can only transition to state011 when the Q_L and Q_H bits are both low, so the state of 011 can beused instead to indicate the condition of the latch being in a clearedstate.

FIG. 10 is a diagram is a block diagram of circuit that can controlpairs of slave and master latches to carry out the transitioningillustrated in the waveform diagram of FIG. 9. The self-timed logic dataregister controller 128 receives detect signals from the slave latchesand the master latches. The self-timed logic data register controller128 uses these signals, together with the TICK throttling signalreceived form the run-to-completion controller 127, to generate theSLAVE_CLEAR, SLAVE_ENABLE, MASTER_CLEAR and MASTER_ENABLE controlsignals that are then supplied back to the slave latches and masterlatches. The logic 160 and input signals 161 determine the data that islatched into the slave latches next. Provided that the state machine isnot waiting for TICK to change, the state only transitions when theactions of the prior state are confirmed to have been completed. Therate at which the actions of the prior state complete depends onpropagation delays through the self-timed logic.

The self-timed logic circuitry of the STLEBSG 109 of FIG. 5 isimplemented using the architecture set forth in FIG. 10. The incrementer129 is a three-bit counter, where each bit is a slave latch/master latchpair. The self-timed logic LFSR 130 is a ten-bit LFSR, where each bit isa slave latch/master latch pair. Each of the slave latch/master latchpairs is controlled as set forth in FIG. 10. In another example theself-timed logic circuitry includes a 15 bit incrementer and a 15-bitLFSR.

FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E together form one larger composite FIG.11. FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram of the STLEBSG 109 of FIG. 5. The threeslave latch/master latch pairs of the three-bit self-timed logicincrementer 129 are shown in FIG. 11D. The first slave latch/masterlatch pair is 168, 169. The second slave latch/master latch pair is 170,171. The third slave latch/master latch pair is 172, 173. Theincrementer 129 is a counter, which is a state machine. The next statelogic in this case involves half adders 162-164 and multiplexers165-167.

The ten slave latch/master latch pairs of the ten-bit self-timed logicLFSR 130 are shown in FIG. 11C. The first slave latch/master latch pairis 174, 175. The second slave latch/master latch pair is 176, 177. Thethird slave latch/master latch pair is 178, 179. The ninth slavelatch/master latch pair is 180, 181. In this case, the next state logicincludes XOR gate 188 and multiplexers 182-185. The self-timed logicdata register controller 128 that controls the slave latches and masterlatches as explained in connection with FIGS. 9 and 10 is shown in FIG.11A. The self-timed logic run-to-completion controller 127 that suppliesthe TICK signal to the self-timed logic data register controller 128 isshown in FIG. 11B. The synchronous controller 126 is shown as a block inFIG. 11E.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram that shows the content of the logic block186 in the upper left corner of FIG. 11A. For example, theALL_MASTERS_CLEARED detect signal is generated using the thirteenMASTER_CLEARED[0 . . . 12] signals. As mentioned above, a latch is inthe “cleared” condition if neither of its Q_H and Q_L output signals ishigh. In each latch there is a gate that detects this condition. Thereare three master latches in the three-bit incrementer, and there are tenmaster latches in the ten-bit incrementer, so there are thirteen totalmaster latches. The MASTER_CLEARED signal from each such master latch isreceived onto the logic block 186 as the MASTER_CLEARED[0 . . . 12]signals. If all of these thirteen signals is high, then all the masterlatches are in the cleared condition. The thirteen-input AND gate 187therefore receives the MASTER_CLEARED[0 . . . 12] signals and outputsthe desired ALL_MASTERS_CLEARED signal. The other condition detectsignals ALL_SLAVES_VALID, ALL_SLAVES_CLEARED and ALL_MASTERS_VALID aregenerated in similar ways by gates of the logic block 186.

FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram of the two-input XOR gate 188 (two wirelogic) of the self-timed logic LFSR 130 of FIG. 11C.

FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram of one of the three-to-one (two wire logic)multiplexers 182 of the self-timed logic LFSR 130 of FIG. 11C and of theself-timed logic incrementer 129 of FIG. 11D.

How the self-timed logic LFSR 130 is realized is explained in connectionwith FIG. 15. FIG. 15 is a diagram of an LFSR realized in standardlogic. LFSR includes a string of ten flip-flops 189-198, organized as ashift register, except that an exclusive OR gate 199 is provided tosupply the data signal that is supplied back into the first flip-flop189 of the string. In the illustrated example, the inputs to theexclusive OR gate 199 are taken from the Q[5] output of the sixthflip-flop and from the Q[9] output of the tenth flip-flop. Themultiplexers 200-209 are provided to allow the flip-flops of the LFSR tobe synchronously parallel loaded with LOAD_DATA[0 . . . 9] when LOAD isasserted.

FIG. 16 is the same logic as shown in FIG. 15, only it is shownrearranged so that the flip-flops are vertically oriented. Themultiplexers are similarly oriented in a vertical column to the right ofthe column of flip-flops. The upper multiplexer has the associated XORgate 199. Many of the bits perform a shifting function. For example,provided that LOAD is not asserted, the Q[0] output of the firstflip-flop 189 of the string passes through a multiplexer and becomes thedata input [1] to the second flip-flop 190 of the string. Similarly, theQ[1] output of the second flip-flop 190 of the string passes through amultiplexer and becomes the data input [2] to the third flip-flop 191 ofthe string. The data input for the first flip-flop, however, is obtainedfrom the output of the XOR gate 199 that is supplied to the data inputof the first flip-flop through multiplexer 200. The signal feedback viathe XOR gate is what gives the structure its LFSR character. Thesynchronous LFSR of FIG. 16 is presented to show the similar structureof the vertically oriented slave and master latch structure of theself-timed logic LFSR of FIG. 11C. Note that in FIG. 11C, themultiplexers provided to enable parallel loading of the LFSR latches areoriented in a vertical column to the right of the columns of slave andmaster latches. This is similar to the vertically oriented column ofmultiplexers in FIG. 16. Likewise, note that in FIG. 11C there is an XORgate 199 feeding the upper right multiplexer 200. This is similar to theXOR gate 199 that feeds to upper right multiplexer 200 in FIG. 16.

How the self-timed logic incrementer 129 is realized is explained inconnection with FIG. 17. As explained above, incrementer 129 is a 3-bitcounter. FIG. 17 is a diagram of a synchronous 3-bit counter realized instandard logic with flip-flops. There are three flip-flops 210-212 tostore state. The half-adder circuits 213-215 are provided as the nextstate logic. For example, the Q data output of the first bit is suppliedto the D input of half-adder 213. A “1” value carry in signal issupplied to the carry in CI input of the first half-adder 213. The sumoutput S of the first half-adder is supplied back to the D input of thefirst flip-flop 210 via multiplexer 216, whereas the carry out CO signaloutput by half-adder 213 is supplied to the carry in CI of the secondhalf-adder 214 of the next flip-flop. The 3-bit counter can besynchronously parallel-loaded with LOAD_DATA[0 . . . 2] by assertingsignal LOAD. The multiplexers 216-218 are provided for this parallelload purpose.

FIG. 18 is the same synchronous logic as shown in FIG. 17, only it isshows rearranged so that the flip-flops 210-212 are vertically oriented.Likewise the half-adders 213-215 are vertically oriented in a column.Likewise, the multiplexers 216-218 are vertically oriented in a column.The synchronous counter of FIG. 18 is presented to show the similarstructure of the vertically oriented slave and master latch structure ofthe self-timed logic incrementer 129 of FIG. 11D. In FIG. 11D, similarto FIG. 18, the sequential logic elements are oriented in a verticalcolumn. In FIG. 11D, similar to FIG. 18, the half-adders are oriented ina vertical column. In FIG. 11D, similar to FIG. 18, the multiplexers areoriented in a vertical column.

FIG. 19 is a circuit diagram of one of two-wire half-adders 162 withinthe self-timed logic incrementer 129 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 20 is a circuit diagram of one of the self-timed logic latches 174of FIG. 11. The same circuit is used both for the slave latches of FIG.11, as well as for the master latches of FIG. 11. The blocks 219-222 inFIG. 20 are SR latches.

FIG. 21 is a circuit diagram of one of the four SR latches 219 of FIG.20. OR gate 223 detects whether the latch is storing valid data bydetecting the condition in which either Q_H is high or Q_L is high. Ifeither Q_H is high or Q_L is high, then the latch is storing valid dataand the signal VALID as output by the OR gate 223 is asserted. Thecleared condition, on the other hand, occurs when both Q_H and Q_L arelow. Gate 224 detects this condition and asserts the signal CLEAREDhigh. The data signal received by the latch is a two-wire logic signalinvolving D_H and D_L. Likewise, the Q signal output by the latch isalso a two-wire logic signal involving Q_H and Q_L. The notation D_H/D_Land Q_H/Q_L labeling a single line denote such pairs of two-wire logicsignals. In FIG. 11, every input signal D being received into a latchsymbol and every output signal Q being output from a latch symbol ofFIG. 11 is a two-wire logic signal

The run-to-completion controller 127 of FIG. 11B is a self-timed logicstate machine that provides the TICK signal to the data registercontroller 128 of FIG. 11A. The state machine causes the TICK signal tobe asserted high. The state machine then waits for the self-timed logicto acknowledge the high transition of TICK. Only when the self-timedlogic acknowledges the high transition of TICK by asserting TICK_ACKhigh does the state machine assert the TICK signal low. Again, the statemachine waits for the self-timed logic to acknowledge the low transitionof TICK. When the self-timed logic acknowledges the low transition ofTICK by forcing the TICK_ACK signal low, then the state machine respondsand forces the TICK signal high. In this way, the run-to-completioncontroller causes the TICK signal to transition in response to TICK_ACKacknowledgements from the self-timed logic.

The run-to-completion controller state machine begins in state 00 andwaits for a contemporaneous logic high level “START” signal and a valid“SINGLE” signal from the synchronous controller. In state 00 theRTC_READY signal is set to a logic high level. Once these signal arereceived contemporaneously, the state machine transitions from state 00to state 01. In state 01 TICK is in a logic low level. The state machinetransitions to state 11 upon both the “START” signal and the TICK_ACKsignal become a logic low level. In state 11 the state machine sets TICKto a logic high level. Setting TICK to a logic high level makes the dataregister controller to move the data state by a half cycle and causesthe register controller to set the TICK_ACK signal to become a logichigh level. When the TICK_ACK signal becomes a logic high level thestate machine transitions to state 01 if the state machine is programmedto run continuously, or to state 10 if the state machine is programmedto run in single run mode. The state machine transitions from state 01to state 11 TICK_ACK signal becomes logic level low. This makes thesecond half of the cycle happen. Alternatively, the state machinetransitions from state 01 to state 00 if the START signal is a logic lowlevel, the DONE signal is a logic high level, and the SINGLE signal is alogic low level. This occurs when the data latches indicate that thedata value is now done (i.e. the incrementer had a zero value).Alternatively, the state machine transitions from state 10 to state 00when the RTC_DONE_ACK signal is a logic high level. In state 10 signalRTC_DONE is set to a logic high level. The RTC_DONE_ACK signal isgenerated by the synchronous controller. It is noted that therun-to-completion controller can be reset by waiting for the RTC_READYsignal or the RTC_DONE signal to be set to a logic high level and thentoggling the RTC_DONE_ACK to a logic high level.

This results in two possible state machine paths. The first path startsat state 00, alternates between states 01 and 11 n times, thentransitions to state 01, and finally state 00, where n is the countvalue of the incrementer. This first state machine path is referred toas the “RUN” mode. The first state machine path is initiated bycontemporaneously receiving a logic high level “START” signal and avalid logic low level “SINGLE” signal from the synchronous controller.The first state machine path is used for a single run or a repeated runoperations. The second path follows the following state transitions: 00,01, 11, 10, 00. This second state machine path is referred to as the“LOAD_INCR” or “LOAD_LFSR” mode. The second state machine path isinitiated by contemporaneously receiving a logic high level “START”signal and a valid logic high level “SINGLE” signal from the synchronouscontroller.

FIG. 22 is a state diagram that describes the operation of thesynchronous controller 126 of FIG. 11E. The synchronous controller 126provides an interface between synchronous circuitry outside the STLEBSGblock 109, and the self-timed logic circuits of the STLEBSG block 109.The ARM processor, through the CB bus, can write to various registers inthe set 112 of registers, and through the synchronous controller 126affect operation of the STLEBSG. The synchronous controller 126 isimplemented as a synchronous state machine having the following ninestates: IDLE, RUN, RUN START, WAIT TILL READY, SINGLE STEP, RTC NOTREADY, RESET, LOAD INCREMENTER, LOAD LFSR. As the synchronous controller126 transitions through its states, it causes various signals suppliedto the self-timed logic to pulse and to transition logic levels is sucha way that the self-timed logic is made to transition state in a desiredway. In the diagram of FIG. 22, the signal names in the circles indicatesignals output by the synchronous controller 126 to the other self-timedlogic portions of the STLEBSG. The value of a signal name set forth in astate circle indicates that the signal of that name is set to have theindicated value when the state machine is in that state. In the diagramof FIG. 22, a signal name on an arrow extending from one state circle toanother state circle indicates a condition upon which the state to statetransition occurs. For example, if the state machine of the synchronouscontroller 126 is in state RUN, then the state machine transitions tothe LOAD INCREMENTER state if the signal REPEAT_INCR is true asindicated by the REPEAT_INCR label on the arrow between the RUN stateand the LOAD INCREMENTER state. Otherwise, if the REPEAT_INCR signal isnot true as indicated by the !REPEAT_INCR label on the arrow between theRUN state and the RUN START state, then the state machine transitions tothe RUN START state. The ! character indicates “NOT”. In the notationused, the “#10 RESET_N=1” text in a state circle means that in CLK cyclenumber ten the synchronous controller 126 causes the signal RESET_N tobe high. The state machine of the synchronous controller can stay in astate for a number of cycles of CLK, with the state machine changing thevalues of output signals from CLK cycle to CLK cycle. The synchronouscontroller interfaces to the run-to-completion controller. REPEAT is asingle bit of state that accompanies the synchronous state machine. Itis SET for a repeated run command; it is CLEARED for a single runcommand. REPEAT is set or cleared when a RUN command arrives. REPEAT isset if a repeated operation and is clear if a single operation.REPEAT_INCR is a single bit of state that accompanies the synchronousstate machine. REPEAT_INCR is SET and CLEARED in the synchronous statemachine. REPEAT_INCR instructs the state machine whether to do theLOAD_INCR or do a RUN, and REPEAT_INCR toggles between SET and CLEAREDso that when doing a repeated run it alternates between LOAD_INCR andRUNs. REPEAT is set by the control bus. REPEAT_INCR is set by thesynchronous state machine.

FIG. 23 is a diagram that illustrates the configuration register 113that the ARM processor of island 25 can write to at address 00h acrossthe CB bus. A “1” value in bit 16 causes the multiplexer 133 of FIG. 5to bypass the signal storage ring 132 such that the bit stream 125 issupplied directly to the pseudo-random number generator 111, whereas a“0” value in bit 16 causes the multiplexer 133 to couple the output ofthe signal storage ring 132 to the pseudo-random number generator 111. A“1” value in bit 0 causes the STLEBSG to be enabled, whereas a “0” inbit 0 causes the STLEBSG to be disabled and to stop transitioning.

FIG. 24 is a diagram that illustrates the command register 114 that theARM processor of island 25 can write to at address 08h across the CBbus. The three-bit value in bits 0, 1 and 2 of the command registerindicates a command. For example, a three-bit value of “001” is acommand to reset the STLEBSG. For example, a three-bit value of “011” isa command to parallel load the LFSR 130 with the value in the data fieldof the data register at 10h. For example, a three-bit value of “100” isa command to parallel load the incrementer 129 with a value in the datafield of the data register at 10h. For example, a three-bit value of101″ is a command to run the STLEBSG once until the incrementer rollsover and reaches a count of zero. For example, a three-bit value of“110” is a command to run the STLEBSG repeatedly so that the incrementerincrements and rolls over to zero, but then is automaticallyreinitialized with the value in the data field of the data register at10h, is then restarted so that it increments again. This incrementing upa predetermined number of times and then reinitializing is repeated overand over indefinitely.

FIG. 25 is a diagram that illustrates the data register 115 that the ARMprocessor of island 25 can write to at address 10h across the CB bus.The bits 16 through 31 store a sixteen-bit data value. This sixteen-bitdata value is used by the command indicated in the command register. Inthe case of a load LFSR command, the value parallel loaded into the LFSRis this sixteen-bit value. In the case of a load incrementer command,the value parallel loaded into the LFSR is this sixteen-bit value.

In one example, the ARM processor writes a value into the data register115 that is going to be loaded into the LFSR 130. The ARM processor thenwrites a value into the command register 114, where bits 0-2 are “011”.The synchronous controller starts in its IDLS state, and the incomingcommand “011” (load LFSR with data in 10h) causes the state machine totransition to the LOAD LFSR state. Signals are supplied to the LFSR toassert the LOAD signal to the LFSR. The state machine then transitionsto the SINGLE STEP state. In cycle zero, the signal SINGLE is set toone, and REPEAT_INCR is set to zero, and RTC_DONE_ACK is set to one. Incycle one, RTC_DONE_ACK is set to zero, and RTC_READY is checked. Incycle three the signal START is set to one, and in cycle four the signalSTART is set to zero. The state machine then transitions to the WAITTILL READY state. When the latches of the LFSR 130 are confirmed tocontain valid data, then the signal RTC_DONE is high. The REPEAT signal,as set by the command in the command register, is not high. The statemachine therefore transitions back to the IDLE state. Accordingly, theLFSR 130 was supplied with the data to be parallel loaded into the LFSR,the LFSR latches were enabled once to latch in the data, and the statemachine returned to the IDLE state.

Next, the ARM processor writes a value into the data register 115 thatis going to be loaded into the incrementer 129. The ARM processor thenwrites a value into the command register, where bits 0-2 are “100”. Thesynchronous controller starts in its IDLS state, and the incomingcommand “100” (load incrementer with data in 10h) causes the statemachine to transition to the LOAD INCREMENTER state. Signals aresupplied to the incrementer to assert the LOAD signal to theincrementer. The state machine then transitions to the SINGLE STEPstate. In cycle zero, the signal SINGLE is set to one, and REPEAT_INCRis set to zero, and RTC_DONE_ACK is set to one. In cycle one,RTC_DONE_ACK is set to zero, and RTC_READY is checked. In cycle threethe signal START is set to one, and in cycle four the signal START isset to zero. The state machine then transitions to the WAIT TILL READYstate. When the latches of the incrementer are confirmed to containvalid data, then RTC_DONE is true. The REPEAT signal, as set by thecommand in the command register, is not high. The state machinetherefore transitions back to the IDLE state. Accordingly, theincrementer 129 was supplied with the data to be parallel loaded intothe incrementer, the incrementer latches were enabled once to latch inthe data, and the state machine returned to the IDLE state.

Next, the ARM processor writes a value into the command register 114,where bits 0-2 are “101”. The synchronous controller 126 starts in itsIDLE state, and the incoming command “101” (run STLEBSG once until theincrementer rolls over to zero) causes the state machine to transitionto the RUN state. Because the REPEAT_INCR is cleared automatically whena command is received, the value !REPEAT_INCR is true. The state machinetherefore transitions to state RUN START. In clock cycle zero, thesignal SINGLE is set to zero, and REPEAT_INCR is set to one, andRTC_DONE_ACK is set to one. In clock cycle one, RCT_DONE_ACK is set tozero. In clock cycle three, the START signal is set to one. In clockcycle four, the START signal is set to zero. This pulsing of the STARTsignal supplied to the self-timed logic of the remainder of the STLEBSGcauses the incrementer 129 to start incrementing, starting at theinitial count value that was written into the incrementer as a result ofthe prior “load incrementer” command. Moreover, for each increment ofthe incrementer 129, the LFSR 130 transitions one state, where theinitial value in the LFSR is the value written into the LFSR as a resultof the prior “load LFSR” command. In the WAIT TILL READY state, theincrementing continues until RTC_DONE is detected. When the incrementerrolls over and reaches a count value of zero, RTC_DONE is true, and thestate machine returns to the IDLE state. During the time that theincrementer is incrementing the bit stream 125 is output from the LFSR130 to the signal storage block 110.

In an example of a “run repeatedly” command, the signal REPEAT is highdue to the command in the command register 114 being a “run repeatedly”command. The incrementer 129 has already been set up to have an initialcount value, and the LFSR 130 has already been set up to have aninitialized value. The synchronous controller 126 goes from IDLE, toRUN, to RUN START, to WAIT TILL READY. When the incrementer hasincremented to roll over, then the signal RTC_DONE received onto thesynchronous controller is true. In response, the synchronous controllerstate machine transitions to RUN, to LOAD INCREMENTER, to SINGLE STEP,to WAIT TILL READY. When the incrementer latches are confirmed to holddata, then the signal RTC_DONE received onto the synchronous controlleris true. In response, the synchronous controller state machinetransitions to RUN, to RUN START, to WAIT TILL READY so that theincrementer will increments up again. This process is repeatedindefinitely, with the transitioning synchronous controller statemachine generating control signals to the self-timed logic that causethe incrementer to repeatedly increment up until it rolls over and thento be reloaded with its initialization value and to be restarted.

Although the STLEBSG 109 is described here as part of the island-basedintegrated circuit of FIG. 1, the STLEBSG sees application in otherintegrated circuits and applications. The STLEBSG has advantages overother entropy signal generators that require analog circuitry and/orspecial discrete components. The STLEBSG, in contrast, is made entirelyof digital logic circuitry and can be implemented in an integratedcircuit that does not involve special analog circuits. In one example, abit stream for programming an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) iscommercially provided as a so-called block of “IP”. A customer purchasesrights to the IP, and is supplied with the bit stream, and then usesloads the bit stream into an FPGA to program an FPGA so that an instanceof the STLEBSG is realized in the customer's FPGA device. Even thoughthe FPGA may not have user accessible analog circuits and discretecomponents, the user can nonetheless instantiate the STLEBSG andgenerate self-timed logic entropy signals.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart of a method 300 in accordance with one novelaspect. A command is sent (step 301) to the random number generator 83via the CB digital bus. The random number generator 83 includes theself-timed logic entropy bit stream generator 109. As a result of thecommand, the self-timed logic entropy bit stream generator 109transitions state a number of times (step 302) and then stopsautomatically. The number of times is determined by the command. In oneexample, the number of times is supplied by writing a data value intothe data register 115, and the command is supplied by writing commandbits into the command register 114. The combination of the actualcommand bits and the associated data value is considered together to bethe entire command. This command is received onto the random numbergenerator 83 via the CB bus 73. If the command is a run repeatedlycommand (step 303), then the self-timed logic is reinitialized and ismade to state transition the number of times again. As a result of thisstate transitioning, whether that state transitioning is repeated ornot, the self-timed logic entropy bit stream generator 109 outputs (step304) a bit stream 125. The bit stream 125 is then used (step 305) togenerate a multi-bit random number 123. The multi-bit random number 123is output (step 306) from the random number generator 83 via output FIFO146, conductors 124 and the OR structure 108.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart of a method 400 in accordance with another novelaspect. The random number generator 83 includes the self-timed logicentropy bit stream generator 109, the entropy signal storage ring 110,and the pseudo-random number generator 111. The self-timed logic entropybit stream generator outputs (step 401) the entropy bit stream 125. Theentropy bit stream 125 is supplied (step 402) onto the input of theentropy signal storage ring 110 so that the storage ring capturesentropy of the bit stream in the ring. The STLEBSG 83 is then made tostop (step 403) outputting the bit stream, but the storage ringcontinues circulating and storing the entropy. Entropy form the bitstream is stored (step 404) in the storage ring and the ring continuescirculating. A output signal 137 output by the storage ring is used(step 405) to generate a 64-bit random number 123 after the self-timedlogic entropy bit stream generator 109 has been stopped by while thesignal storage ring 110 continues circulating. The 64-bit random numberis output (step 406) from the random number generator. In one example,the self-timed logic entropy bit stream generator is made to stopoutputting the bit stream by writing an appropriate value into theconfiguration register 113 such that bit 0 of the configuration register113 is set to zero. This disabling of the self-timed logic entropy bitstream generator 109 serves to reduce power consumption, and thepseudo-random number generator 111 can continue to generate 64-bitrandom numbers using entropy stored in the signal storage ring 110.

FIG. 28 is a more detailed diagram of the signal storage ring block 110of FIG. 5. The signal storage ring block 110 includes the signal storagering 132 and the multiplexer 133. The signal storage ring 132 includes Nseries-connected stages, denoted stage 0, stage 1, stage N−1 in FIG. 28.The stages can all be identical structures, or various ones of thestages can differ from one another. In the illustrated example, all thestages are identical. If the enable bit coming into a stage one itsenable bit input is a zero value (feedback disabled), then the signal onthe data input lead of the stage is inverted and is output onto the dataoutput lead of the stage. The stages are therefore said to be inverting.The signal path from the signal storage ring input node 136 to thesignal storage ring output node 134 in this configuration is aninverting signal path because the path goes through an odd number ofinverting stages.

Consider the situation in which all the nine enable bits (BIT3-BIT11) ofthe writable configuration register 113 are zero values (feedbackdisabled), except for the first enable bit BIT3 for the first stagewhich is a one value (feedback enabled). There are an odd number ofstages, and the stages are inverting, so the ring is a ring oscillatorin that the bit stream, as it circulates, is inverted each time ittravels around the ring. The incoming bit stream 125 is supplied ontothe signal storage ring input node 136, and passes through the chain ofnine stages to the signal storage ring output node 134. Due to thepropagation delay required to pass through the stages, the bit stream125 is effectively stored in the various stages at a given instant intime. As the front end of the bit stream 125 reaches the signal storagering output node 134, the front end of the bit stream is fed back to thefeedback inputs of the stages. In this example, only the first stage isenabled. The feedback bit stream value is inverted by the combinatoriallogic circuit 225 of stage 0, and is then XORed by structure 226 withthe next incoming value of the bit stream 125 on the signal storage ringinput node 136. If the bit stream 125 has stopped transitioning and is azero, then the feedback signal as inverted by combinatorial logic NANDgate 225 is reintroduced into the first stage 0. The bit stream thencirculates around the ring. Depending on the logic employed in thestages and the number of stages, the bit stream may be inverted as itrecirculates, or the bit stream may recirculate in without beinginverted. Regardless of whether the bit stream is inverted or not,nondeterministic entropy of the original bit stream 125 is stored in thering even if the incoming bit stream 125 ceases transitioning.

In a typical use, the feedback paths of multiple stages are enabled. Thebit stream as it recirculates is permuted in a complex fashion due tothe multiple feedback paths. The permuted bit stream is also combinedwith the remainder of the incoming bit stream 125 on signals storagering input node 136.

FIG. 29 is a diagram that illustrates one way that the exclusive OR gatestructure 226 can be realized.

FIG. 30 is a diagram that illustrates another way that the exclusive ORgate structure 226 can be realized.

FIG. 31 is a diagram that illustrates another example of a stage that isemployed in the signal storage ring block 110 of FIG. 28 in someembodiments. Rather than the structure 226 performing an XOR function,the structure 226 performs a XNOR function. The combinatorial logiccircuit 225 performs a NAND function. The delay element 227 is a buffer(for example, an even number of series-connected inverters).

FIG. 32 is a diagram that illustrates another example of a stage that isemployed in the signal storage ring block 110 of FIG. 28 in someembodiments. The structure 226 performs an XOR function, but the delayelement 227 is an inverting structure (for example, an odd number ofseries-connected inverters), rather than a non-inverting delay elementas in the case of FIG. 31. The combinatorial logic circuit 225 performsa NAND function.

FIG. 33 is a diagram that illustrates another example of a stage that isemployed in the signal storage ring block 110 of FIG. 28 in someembodiments. The combinatorial logic circuit 225 performs a NORfunction, rather than a NAND function as in FIGS. 31 and 32.

Although certain specific embodiments are described above forinstructional purposes, the teachings of this patent document havegeneral applicability and are not limited to the specific embodimentsdescribed above. Accordingly, various modifications, adaptations, andcombinations of various features of the described embodiments can bepracticed without departing from the scope of the invention as set forthin the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: (a) sending a command to arandom number generator via a digital bus, wherein the random numbergenerator includes a self-timed logic bit stream generator, and whereinthe command includes a value; (b) causing the self-timed logic bitstream generator to state transition a number of times and then to stopautomatically, wherein the number of times is dependent upon the value,and wherein as a result of the state transitioning the self-timed logicbit stream generator outputs a bit stream; and (c) causing the bitstream to be used to generate a multi-bit random number.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: (d) receiving the multi-bit randomnumber from the random number generator.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the command in (a) is a first command, and wherein a secondcommand is sent to the random number generator that initiates the statetransitioning of the self-timed logic bit stream generator in (b) sothat the self-timed logic bit stream generator then state transitionsthe number of times.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first commandis a command to load the value into a portion of the self-timed logicbit stream generator, and wherein the second command is a run command.5. The method of claim 4, wherein the run command causes the followingtwo operations to be repeated multiple times one after the other: 1) thevalue to be loaded into the portion of the self-timed logic bit streamgenerator, and 2) the self-timed logic bit stream generator to statetransition the number of times.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein therandom number generator further comprises a ring oscillator, and whereinthe bit stream output by the self-timed logic bit stream generator issupplied onto an input lead of the ring oscillator.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising: (d) causing the self-timed logic bit streamgenerator to stop state transitioning so that the self-timed logic bitstream generator stops outputting the bit stream while at the same timethe ring oscillator continues to oscillate.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein a third command is sent to the random number generator thatcauses the self-timed logic bit stream generator to stop statetransitioning in (d).
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein after stoppingautomatically in (b) the self-timed logic bit stream generator startsstate transitioning again and state transitions the number of times andthen automatically stops again.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein theself-timed logic bit stream generator comprises a self-timed logiclinear feedback shift register (LFSR) and a self-timed logic counter.11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: (d) sending a secondcommand to the random number generator via the digital bus, wherein thesecond command includes a second value, wherein the second commandcauses the self-timed logic linear feedback shift register to be loadedwith the second value.
 12. A random number generator comprising: apseudo-random number generator; a ring oscillator that outputs a signalonto an input lead of the pseudo-random number generator; and aself-timed logic bit stream generator that outputs a bit stream onto aninput lead of the ring oscillator, wherein the self-timed logic bitstream generator comprises: a self-timed logic linear feedback shiftregister (LFSR); and a self-timed logic counter coupled to theself-timed logic LFSR.
 13. The random number generator of claim 12,wherein the self-timed logic bit stream generator receives a commandfrom a bus, wherein the command is a run command that causes theself-timed logic LFSR to transition state a number of times, and whereinthe number of times is determined by the command.
 14. The random numbergenerator of claim 12, wherein the self-timed logic bit stream generatoris initialized with a value, and wherein the self-timed logic bit streamgenerator state transitions a number of times and then stopsautomatically, and wherein the number of times is dependent upon thevalue.
 15. The random number generator of claim 12, wherein theself-timed logic bit stream generator receives a command from a bus, andwherein the command causes a value to be loaded into the self-timedlogic courtier.
 16. The random number generator of claim 15, wherein thevalue determines a number of times that the self-timed logic undergoesstate transitions before the self-timed logic bit stream generatorautomatically stops.
 17. The random number generator of claim 12,wherein the self-timed logic bit stream generator receives a commandfrom a bus, wherein the command causes a value to be loaded into theself-timed logic LFSR.
 18. The random number generator of claim 12,wherein the self-timed logic bit stream generator receives a commandfrom a bus, wherein the command causes the following two operations tobe repeated multiple times one after the other: 1) a value to be loadedinto the self-timed logic counter, and 2) the self-timed logic bitstream generator to state transition the number of times until theself-timed logic counter reaches a predetermined count.
 19. A randomnumber generator comprising: means for receiving a command and forcausing an amount of self-timed logic to state transition a number oftimes thereby outputting a bit stream, wherein the number of times isdetermined by the command; a ring oscillator that receives the bitstream from the means; and a pseudo-random number generator thatreceives a signal from the ring oscillator.
 20. The random numbergenerator of claim 19, wherein the self-timed logic includes aself-timed logic counter, and wherein the command causes a value to beloaded into the self-timed logic counter.
 21. The random numbergenerator of claim 20, wherein the means is also for receiving a secondcommand, wherein the second command is a run command that causes theself-timed logic to start state transitioning.